August 14th: Moving to Quintana Roo with 23 Suitcases!

Trying to take 23 suitcases through the airport was a bonding experience for the family (maybe packing 5 suitcases of books and 2 with climbing gear was a bit much?)

Some of us would take some suitcases to a spot while others watched the ones left behind and then some would stay with the ones we brought while we got the other ones. I’m sure it was pretty funny to watch.

Things got a little trickier when we got to the Cancun airport. Bill had to go pick up our rental car so he left with Coen and Josh. That left me, Jess, Dallin, Joy and James to figure out how to get the 23 suitcases to the pick up zone.

We found a cart that I wasn’t sure we could use, but I figured that if someone came to talk to me, I could ask them if there was a cart we COULD use. (We weren’t supposed to use it, but thankfully no one came to talk to us until after we got all the luggage to the passenger pick up zone.)

Bill had rented a mini van so he planned on taking half the kids and suitcases to the airBNB (an hour away) while the rest of us waited with the remaining suitcases until he could come back to pick us up.

While Bill went to get the rental car, I asked the taxi drivers how much it would cost to get a couple of us and our luggage to the airBNB.

They told me $94 which, being 10pm by this point, sounded better than waiting at the airport for 2 hours.

I texted Bill and he agreed so I told them yes, and they started loading our luggage into a suburban.

When they were almost done, Bill called and said his rental car had broken down and he was waiting at the side of the road for someone to pick him and the two boys up.

What should I do? Tell the taxi driver to unload our luggage because we weren’t leaving right then? Or leave some kids behind with the rest of the luggage until Bill could arrive??

Jess reminded me that she is an adult and that she would be fine to stay there with Joy and James while Dallin and I took the luggage to the Airbnb.

I didn’t love leaving three of my kids (who don’t speak Spanish) at the airport pick up but Jess assured me they would be fine and the nice young man who worked for the taxi company (and helped us get the luggage in the taxi) told me he’d watch out for them.

So Dallin and I took off with almost all the luggage in a taxi. (I had a deep and interesting conversation with the taxi driver about his life, choices, and trusting God.)

Then when we got to the Airbnb, we were discouraged to learn that our apartment was up four flights of stairs.

But we were encouraged once again when we found an elevator.

Bill got to Jess, Joy, and James an hour later and we were all together again just past midnight at the Airbnb, feeling very tired but triumphant that we’d finally made it. I was proud of my kids for not complaining (aside from a couple of questions about whether the books were really necessary

) and just doing their part to get us to our destination.

Go team

August 14th: Joy's Birthday

Joy is 10!! As one of the “littles” in the house, I thought she’d stay in the single digits forever

Joy is compassionate, kind, and not afraid to fight for what she believes. She notices people. She notices when someone feels left out or sad. She tries to help if they will let her.

Joy is incredibly creative. She is on chapter 33 of a book she has been writing and Can play an imaginary game for hours with an elaborate plot in her head.

I often see her writing in her journal in the morning or at night. Or she may be writing a sweet note to someone. She has had her internal struggles (sometimes still does) but has used them to practice tools that make her stronger, more empathetic, and more resilient.

She is super fun and funny. I love her loud, contagious laugh and ability to see the ironic and silly things in life.

We are so blessed to have Joy in our family!

Credit: Jess made Joy this beach cake and wrapped her presents.

For her birthday party yesterday we went swimming and watched Paddington. Today we are taking her to the beach after a little car shopping.

August 16th: First Time Snorkeling

I mentioned several pieces of important life-advice that Martin, the orphanage director in Tijuana, gave us as we got ready to do this (see post from a couple days ago for advice to make your life better).

One of the last things he told Bill (one I didn’t mention) is “take 3 days to relax and rest, then get to work.”

Bill and I aren’t very good at resting, so we mostly went car shopping yesterday, but we did take this morning off to enjoy the beautiful beach. We used the money we got from selling our camping stuff and got ourselves some snorkeling things.

Lowlights:

-Coen’s snorkeling mask was getting water in it and we were in a deeper section of the ocean so I didn’t have anywhere to stand. I tried to help him but he kept pushing me down and I couldn’t breathe. I saw Dallin nearby as I stuggled and asked for help. He came over and took Coen and all was well, but neither Coen or I wanted to snorkel much after that.

-When Joy saw a sea turtle she was so excited she wanted to tell me, so she took off her snorkel to speak and started to panic when she couldn’t touch the ground. Probably wouldn’t have been a big deal if the Coen episode hadn’t just happened, but as it was, I got so scared. Thankfully there was a place I could touch ground nearby and all was well

Next time Coen and Joy are wearing life jackets!

Highlights:

-Josh and Joy saw a sea turtle while snorkeling

-I had a school of big bright yellow and silver fish follow me as I swam for a while over their reef. They’d go through my arms and all around me. I felt like I was part of their family.

-SO SO many different bright colored fish and coral. I kept thanking God for making the world so beautiful.

-Coen seeing an iguana in nature for the first time

-Watching Dallin dive into the ocean to grab another cool thing

This is a beautiful part of the world!

After snorkeling today, I was taking out my braids at the table to get ready to get in the shower and I felt something itchy so I scratched my head and felt something wriggly, so I grabbed it and threw it because I was scared. It was a baby crab

Look how forlorn he looks! I feel so sad I took him away from home.

August 18th: A Much Needed Run

I’m not a very patient person so that last few days have been a little frustrating with government offices, banks, car shopping, trying to get money to Mexico to buy a car (when my government ID is inactive for some strange reason no one can figure out).

I just want to spend time with my family creating a safe and beautiful place!

There’s a YouTuber (QRoo Paul) that likes to say the government procedures in Mexico are 2 things and that this seems to be their mission:

1. Consistently Inconsistent

2. Unnecessarily Arduous

This has been my experience so far. Having ADHD, I am used to my mind feeling like a Ping Pong ball, but lately it has felt like a Ping Pong ball on steroids!

Then I realized I’ve been so busy the last couple of months that I haven’t taken the time to exercise (there’s no mountains around here to hike so what’s the point?) or sleep well, and that I’ve been eating 300% more chocolate than normal (and my normal was already above average).

So I decided to start today to get my mental and physical health back on track. Here is a picture of the trail I got to run. I tried a casual run, but it was only after sprinting a few times that my mind started to slow down. I didn’t realize how much I needed it.

August 18th: The Waiting Game

Today’s waiting game

1st hour:

It started when I went to pick up a money transfer from Western Union so that we could purchase a car. I waited in line for almost 1 hour.

-When we finally got to the teller, she explained that they couldn’t give us that much cash, it was over their limit. we would have to cancel the old transaction and send another one for les money.

2nd hour:

The men we were buying the car from were sitting there waiting for the money so I asked if there was another way to get it. The teller told me to talk to one of the bank people at the desks.

I put my name on the waiting list. I, Bill, and the sellers waited another hour.

The desk person told me the same thing the teller told me.

3rd hour:

I then tried sending them some of the money through xoom. My phone was low on battery so we all went out to the car to try a bank transfer. They asked for a ton of verification before allowing it. It took a while.

4th hour.

we were waiting for the smaller amount from Western Union since we could only transfer part of the total price because of transfer limits. My dad had to leave work to cancel the old transaction and send a smaller amount. So we all went to a restaurant to eat while we waited. Jess texted and said the apartment water was shut off.

5th hour:

We ordered and the food took 50 minutes to make. By this time we learned that our bank transfer wouldn’t reach their account until Wednesday so we didn’t have to wait for the Western Union money after all, since we would need the bank transfer to have enough.

6th hour:

They left and said we could do the transaction when the money got to the bank. In the mean time, we paid them to let us rent the car until the transfer when through. We returned the other rental car.

We arrived at the apartment and asked a maintenance man about why the apartment didn’t have water (by this time the kids had been without running water for 3hours). He said it happens sometimes. I asked him how long it is out on average.

He said 2-3 days

By this time it was 5 o’clock (we had left the house at 11) but things got better from there.

I made some soup, we ate dinner, cleaned up, and played several rounds of Mafia, and then watched the 3rd Gardian of the Galaxy movie.

The water came back on around 11

but everyone was in bed and I didn’t have the energy to wash the dishes

They’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

August 19th: Seeing the House and Property for the First Time

On our way to show the kids the town we will be living in and to see the progress on the house

Hoping it’s a good first impression

Well, we had some mixed emotions seeing the house today

The kids generally liked how jungly it was and seeing some lizards and really pretty butterflies. Jess, Joy and Dallin seemed to like the little town and the possibilities of what we could do with the house and land. James was mentioned how much poverty there seemed to be in the town, and didn’t love the heat. Josh said it was okay and Coen said it was hot

One kind of disappointing thing was that we learned that those who worked on the foundation either didn’t read the plans right or didn’t want to work as hard, but everything is smaller than what we had on the plans. The outside was 20 feet less wide than we had on the plans and 15 feet less long. And everything inside made to smaller scale (and a few things skipped altogether!)

So… we are going to rewrite the plans to fit the foundation without changing much what’s already been done.

It’s all turning out to cost more than we had hoped and taking longer than we thought (which in my experience is typical in construction). They think we are still 3 months out from being finished.

I asked how long it would take to have 2 rooms and a couple of bathrooms finished and they said a month, so we are talking about finishing that much and moving into part of the house while we finish the rest of it.

Despite the surprises though, I had a feeling the whole time that this was going to end up working out to be better in some way. That God will take these mistakes and make them work out for our good, like He always does.

Here are some pictures of the progress:

August 20th

Church is on the second floor of this building. It’s a small congregation that covers a lot of area. Just like 30 people besides us. It takes 40 minutes to get there from the home we’re building and we are the only members of our church in the town we will be living at.

But the people were super nice, the discussions were rich. Even the young men in the branch came up to shake our hands and welcome us. My kids were impressed with the youth discussion and how much everyone participated.

It will be so nice when the kids can understand all that’s going on, but I was still impressed that they understood as much as they did. All that time in Tijuana was helpful.

Seminary starts next week and dance practice for a stake event starts on Saturday. Joy and Coen got homework to memorize a hymn for the primary program by next Sunday. They’ll memorize one hymn a week until the program.

It feels nice to start feeling a sense of home.

August 24th: Getting Settled in Mexico

I don't think Coen is going to mind living near the beach too much

Update:

1. We've been having family meetings about the vision and goals of what we are doing so we can make inspired short term goals together.

Here is the purpose so far thar we will continue to refine and simplify:

To create an optimal learning environment for individuals to grow into their potential; which includes principles of service, family, inspired personal goals, community impact, nature, diligence, and a healthy relationship with God, self, and others.

2. We finally got a car

3. I got a new phone Mexican phone number.

4. We will not be in our home as soon as we thought so we are figuring out what to do when our three weeks here are done. We need to be closer to where we will be living though. Foe some reason (i think its the hot weather and the snakes) I can't get Bill to buy into my camping idea

5. Thank you to those who are involved in this work with us through donating, volunteering, or signing up to get updates. Sign up below.

August 27th: There is so Much Need for Alternative Education in Mexico

Beautiful end to a beautiful day.

We went to church thinking we'd be quiet listeners. Instead, Dallin blessed the sacrament, was a witness at a baptism, and conferred the Aaronic priesthood on a young man for his first time. Josh and Jess gave talks at a baptism. Bill blessed a young man to receive the Holy Ghost and also blessed the sacrament. And I got to do a lot of translating

We are blessed to be surrounded by some amazing people who are doing so much in this branch. We are so grateful they included us and let us help in a small way today.

We also learned that two of our young new friends at church cannot go to school because they are from Guatemala and are not Mexican citizens or residents.

They are eager to learn though.

They live 40 min from us, so Bill and I started talking about finding ways to eventually bus kids in from the small towns around us, like they did at The Mission school and orphanage. Their cute smiles and desire to go to school fueled my excitement for getting our school going soon!